Ducera Partners

Last updated

Ducera Partners LLC
Company type Private
Industry Financial services
FoundedJune 2015;9 years ago (2015-06)
Founders
  • Michael Kramer
  • Derron Slonecker
  • Joshua Scherer
  • Agnes Tang
  • Adam Verost
Headquarters
Eleven Times Square, New York, U.S.
Key people
  • Michael Kramer (CEO)
Products
Number of employees
45 (2022)
Website www.ducerapartners.com

Ducera Partners (Ducera) is an American boutique investment bank that has a focus on advising companies regarding restructuring matters. Through its affiliate partners, it is also involved with wealth management and growth capital. Headquartered in New York, it has additional offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Stamford.

Contents

Founded in 2015 by bankers who had previously worked for Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP), Ducera has since been engaged in legal disputes with PWP.

Background

Origins at Perella Weinberg Partners

Michael Kramer, Derron Slonecker, Joshua Scherer and Adam Verost were all bankers who worked in the restructuring group of Perella Weinberg Partners (PWP). They had previously worked together at Houlihan Lokey. Kramer joined PWP in 2007 after his restructuring firm, Kramer Capital Partners was acquired by it to build its restructuring practice. He was named founding head of PWP's restructuring group and was given a seat on the management committee. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

By 2014, Kramer was dissatisfied with his treatment by PWP and felt he was not fairly given a leadership role despite the business he brought to it. Kramer had difficulty working within the firm's culture as well as that of its leader, Peter Weinberg as he came from a restructuring background that was more rough while the firm's leadership came from a traditional M&A background which was more genteel. Weinberg has stated that no one in the partnership wanted to work with Kramer. Kramer realized his status within the firm was eroding after the firm failed to award him his expected compensation and stripped him of his titles while planning to replace him with one of his team members. [1] [2] [4]

In mid-February 2015 on Presidents' Day, Kramer, Slonecker, Scherer and Verost were all fired by voicemail. PWP stated they learnt of a meeting in January 2015 at Kramer's home in Connecticut, where eight members of the restructuring team gathered. Documents containing items related to starting a new firm which included a projected business plan were circulated there. Kramer claimed the meeting was called by junior members who were frustrated at PWP and that he did not solicit any team members to join him and any documents that suggested a new firm was not initiated by him. After Kramer and his colleagues were fired, four remaining members of the PWP restructuring team would late resign to join Kramer. In May 2015, Kramer and his fired colleague sued PWP for wrongful termination stating the firm manufactured reasons to fire them and cheat them out of about $60 million in deferred compensation. [1] [2] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Ducera

In June 2015, Kramer and his colleagues who had been fired co-founded Ducera Partners, a restructuring focused investment bank. [1] The name is derived from the Latin verb dūcere which means "to lead, to guide". [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

In October 2015, PWP issued a counterclaim claiming Ducera's co-founders had breached their contracts by colluding to form a new partnership. Rather than develop their firm from the ground up or pay for a complete practice by acquiring another firm, it was alleged they decided to steal the practice group that PWP had developed. The lawsuit also sought damages for business lost by PWP due to the team's departure. While similar disputes had been dealt with privately, this dispute was a rare instance of it spilling into public litigation which attracted media attention. Some bankers feared it would open an unwelcome discussion on non-compete clauses. In July 2016, the New York state court dismissed some of the compensation claims of Ducera's co-founders but allowed the case to move forward on allegations PWP interfered with their business prospects and defamed them. [4] [5] [7]

Ducera and Morgan Stanley advised Monsanto on its September 2016 sale to Bayer for US$66 billion, 2016's biggest M&A deal. [3] [6] [8] [9]

PWP told its clients that they could not work with Ducera under any arrangement if they wished to continue doing business with PWP. Monsanto and Caesars Entertainment terminated their engagements with PWP. Silver Point Capital and Colt Defense wanted to continue doing business with Ducera but PWP blocked them. [6] [8]

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References

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